


think pearls, big and luminous

by seesawthefourth



Category: NCT (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Knitting, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:02:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28761492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seesawthefourth/pseuds/seesawthefourth
Summary: jaehyun doesn't how he got engaged to a fairy of all things but he blames it on cafés.
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	think pearls, big and luminous

**Author's Note:**

> me: jaehyun is cute  
> me: jaehyun is also gildery lockhart

on a wednesday,  
jaehyun goes to a local cafe with a headache brewing and his hands cold. how his hands had gotten cold so suddenly, especially when he had taken them minutes didn't make sense. 

but it was cold, not cold enough to fog or snow but cold and he attributed to that. and so grabbing his jacket and keys, he left his apartment locked and corgi asleep, hurrying down the stairs to not miss the train or worse miss his interview. 

a few months ago, before the vaccine had been administered all over korea and the third wave of corona had rocked the country - jaehyun found kicked out of his day job and had been left in an overpriced capital with ( thankfully ) a great roommate and a ( amazing ) pet. 

of course he had helped as much as he could when no jobs were around for him to interview for but atleast his art degree was there and he absolutely grateful for that. 

though he wouldn't tell anyone that. especially not the duo who would laugh and laugh and laugh, fall down to the ground in stitches because what had saved him being kicked out was knitting. honest to god knitting - as in him sitting on the sofa had knitting away like crazy and selling it on the internet. 

when he had chosen knitting as a fun little course for three months between his art degree he hadn't imagined that it'll help him up - enough to turn to painting and trying to forget johnny smirking through the whole five months he had used the thin needles. he had been pulled thin and the threat of a livid roommate and a needle on his throat ( someday i'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull, suh ) had made him retreat back to the safety of the kitchen and his bedroom. 

the living room had become his space, from the balls of colorful yarn and basket of magazines he had found once ( he was sure johnny hadn't learned his lesson yet ) and the television turned on as he drowned in his self pity. 

oh, what his mother would say. or his grandmother with her sly smiles. or ten and bambam from downstairs. 

and so he had kept it his dirty little secret, atleast until he would afford the expensive paints and turned to selling paintings on insta ( he had painted too otps that his head hurt from seeing another baekyeol one ). he had flaunted it then ofcourse, forgotten all about the twitter account he was keeping hidden on the side. 

there was no need of getting fodder to anyone, and he had had blackmail johnny ( remember sehun, your co worker ) to keep everything shush. of course his dealings were dirty but he was taking no chance, even if johnny had promised twice to spill anything - but he had grin on his eyes and that stupid twinkling eye thing his eyes did when he was being mischievous. 

you don't trust him then, especially not then. he's on dumbledore mode and it spells disaster for everyone. for example, taeyong's birthday party last year with the stripper and minors and police offcials. 

that wasn't a good day or week or month. he had to pay to get yuta out and use his father's connections to keep the heat down. and let his father yell in his ear about decency and respect. 

he hadn't been the same ever since. 

he shuddered, passing by his neighbours - jackson and mark were dragging yugyeom back in their apartment and he had stopped to get everything cause drama is what is the reason why the apartment complex still stands ( he hasn't finished his deadline yet, that scoundrel ) - and leaving his apartment behind him. 

the streets are filling him more and more as the sun goes down. and he pulls his mobile, checks that's not even around four and he has around thirty minutes to reach the cafe. the interview was supposedly happening there and his future co worker and boss ( crossed fingers ) would only be in one in the suits. 

they'll look like aliens around the casually dressed but atleast it'll help him narrow them in. even if that'll be funny and he'll have to hide his laugh in before he ruined whatever impression he had built in the one phone call he had and the tucked sweater he had wore for the occasion. 

white shirt and a sweater, a red and gold one hendary had sent on his birthday ( you're not special. it's because i'm sending it to everyone ) and never worn except to flex his picture first on the group chat. he'll ignore his crying wallet because it isn't his, even if taeil had tried to make join and pay him back. pff, he can't afford a house. 

but he couldn't exactly say that to everyone. 

he joined the fray, keeping a hand over his pocket - his phone and wallet and he wasn't stupid like xiaojun had been at first - as he sped through the laughter and fun things he could be doing. 

the virus was gone, after all and it was free real estate and visit a club for a drink or two. maybe he'll do that after the call comes in two day later for doing a successful interview - he had a high hopes for it, along with rehearsed sentences and his smile. 

the girls in his college used to say that the smile would get him away with murder and he'd hoped it'll get him a job - even if it hadn't kept him from loosing it before but he was willing to blame the epidemic for that. that was a great excuse and he was shying to pointing fingers at it for the years to come. 

it'll probably become the next new thing soon, the orange is the new black thing ( i survived an epidemic, child. what have you gone through? ). his mother's 'i walked mountains to get to my school' was already old deal and anyways his mother lived by the school and his father was private tutors like most spoiled brats. 

he went down the stairs, scanning his card in and getting in before the train left the station. he sat down beside the window and wondered if the corona would rear it's head again in some rural sector, terrifying everyone enough to make them not fog the glass. he hoped it didn't as that fact only pushed it further in that outside germs were okay again. 

he pulled out his earphones and plugged them in. as he listened to red velvet croon in his ear, the train started and he pointedly ignored the people with airpods in. not everyone was rich enough to replace their old ones. 

he turned to the glass, watching the colors blur as the train shot through the tunnel and thought about the money he used to make with his old job - he had spent three years there, filled with hardwork in a graphic design company ( not so great anymore because he was a petty bitch. he missed the money, and the coffee. 

god, the coffee. 

he had searched the cafe they had told him to meet at few nights ago, just to check if his mind wasn't hallucinating or something. but it wasn't, at least if naver wasn't lying to him - the cafe was small, but sweet looking in warm tones of brown and blue and he hoped their good was good. cause the thought of his old company coffee machine made his mouth water. 

and he hadn't any good coffee, not in between his paint splattered hands and johnny's disgusting stash. honestly who used packets of coffee anymore. 

but anyways the company was real, the people were real, the cafe was even real. and so he was happy. 

he had a shot and he wasn't one to throw it away. they'll have to go through his best lines, his dimples, and a good laugh before they even thought of changing their minds. 

he was very confident in himself to say the least. 

and so he waited and waited - ignoring the woman and her son bickering in the corner, a woman few people away giving him a good look - until the train slowed and he joined the leaving crowd. 

up the stairs he went, jumping the last two steps and seeing the area open up to buildings. the man made beauty of peeling paint, glistening metal and bodies opening up around like an anime scene. 

he pulled his phone out again, looked at the time and walked through the crowd slowly. he went to naver, his wifi giving him barely two signals to search its map. he had went through it last night but the a map of red and white could provide nothibg more then direction. 

thankfully, he found the cafe with enough minutes to spare. 

the cafe was exactly like the picture of naver - blue metal and polished wood, a large window overlooking the crowd with a loveseat and curling staircase in the back and dark blue kitchen stools framing it. some were occupied, students with uniform sharing notes and cakes with them. 

aw, study dates, the type of dates you never go to after studies are over. 

the bell rang as he entered the small establishment, closing his eyes for a second to inhale the buttery smell of bread, of sugar and chocolate and coffee. of the gingerbread cookies on display with peach tarts, macroons, flat breads, eclairs and swiss rolls. cafes and bakery were heaven on earth and he inhaled the scent before he looked for the odd two black sheeps out. 

trailing his eyes over lone customers, a guy with fur coat ( which looked so soft, he wanted to touch it ), youbg couples, an eldery one with cakes nearly spilling ovver the small round table and there! 

two men in bussiness suits, looking so awkward in the lively place that as he approached - slowing down to make the walk up graceful, putting his mobile away as a polite smile trailed over his lips - he had cover him his laugh with a cough. 

they didn't look up and had a third chair just waiting with his name on it ( not really, but you get the image ) when the man with fur coat twisted around, to pick up a dainty little spoon and the fur coat slipped of the back of his chair and pooled around his seat. 

he didn't notice, just returned to eating his cake - banana cake with cream cheese, yum. jaehyun changed his direction, looping around the other customers to pick the coat up for the stranger. 

he was good samaritan after all, willing to help others and not thresten anyone ( we will ignore that he tried to kill johnny but in his defense he was strung up and he had nothing exciting to do those days. it's not his fault ) and he reached down to pick up the coat and not because he wanted to feel it in his fingers, the softness of the fur and heavy texture running through his fingers. 

it had literally pooled into a circle behind his chair, a thick heavy fur coat ( a rich one, too ). he wanted to swuish his face in and feel it on his cold face too. he was holding it and that coat was warming his cold fingers, it was that warm. 

if jaehyun wasn't such a good samaritan he would have stolen it, turning away from the camera mounted in the corner a man with hearts in his eyes behind the counter. but he was exactly that, and so with a dimpled smile ( the cashier swooned, slipping off and down the counter in a blushy puddle because he was that handsome, his smile would literally melt the worst of stone cold hearts ) he turned the stranger, who had looked up and was staring at him with wide eyes. 

he knew his handsome face could do that. 

"you dropped your coat". he told him gallantly. the stranger blinked, but it was probably because he hadn't recovered his enchanting smile ( ™ ). 

he dropped it carefully over his chair, mindful of the fact that he had eyes on him off the others in the establishment as he smiled again. 

the stranger opened his mouth but nothing came out. his eyes were wide, stunned as his he looked up at jaehyun. he straightened up, again knowing his height was something people talked about ( you're like legolas and taeyong's your gimli ) and so thought nothing of it. "it's no problem", he replied. 

and so with another smile, he approached the table of highly impressed individuals - armed with a good deed and a blinding smile. 

in the back of his mind, he thought he'll ask the stranger for a drink if he was still there. he was pretty and jaehyun missed going on dates and kissing and generally having fun in his mid twenties. 

on a thursday,  
a week after his interview he was still feeling pumped up about. he had gotten the job and already started working at the small company - it payed good enough for a starter company, had a beautiful place rented a few blacks away from his home. and thus with a new job, he had done all but not think of the cafe. 

he had planned to visit it again and the next came when johnny whined about not having a new place to go to and jaehyun was feeling like a good roommate. 

and so they left, dressed in jeans and warm jackets ( you look like a worm, jaehyun ) to the train station, past the sights of metal and paint and to the cafe squeezed in between two buildings, too large imposing stone structures ( like a anime girl cornered by gangsters ). 

laughing, they had entered and gotten themselves seat upstairs. the winding stsircase to something even more cottage core and with his jacket off, jaehyun felt he fit right in. a woodland fae in his natural element and all. 

they order their cakes and drinks ( he needed to try the banana cake with cream cheese and an americano with go with it ) and return to their phones. they look at each other long enough to not talk while thdy wait for their orders. 

he pushes back his hair from his face, away from where he was doing his wire tasks in electrical in among us while keeping a suspicious eye on faeshampoo, the white hooligan who kept writing lyrics in the chat - when he notices movement from the corner of his eye. 

someone's standing beside his chair, someone in huge stomper boots. 

he shifts, trying his gaze from his very important game to the approacher and finds - 

the stranger from last thursday, the one who he thought about once as he had left him in high spirits and another in his bed and never again. the handsome one, with the tan face and beauty mark under his lips and cheek and the warm fur coat ( the one who wanted to yell eat the rich and run at full speed ). 

he blinks. "hi?". 

"hi".the man smiles at him, his eyes trailing to johnny who had looked up in curiosity. honestly that man could well to keep his nose out of his things, it'll help ( he shouldn't be hypocrite but who cares ). " can i talk to you-", he gives johnny a unreadable stare, - " alone?". 

"um why?". he said. honestly he was flattered but the man looked like he was towering in his boots ( and they intimidating as hell if he's being honest with himself ). "i mean, i'm mind it but i don't even know your name". 

the man stopped, giving him a elegant hand to shake. jaehyun exactly that, even if it was type of handshake he has never seen before, especially in korea. he had thought this only happened in victorian moives, not real life. not in between two men. 

it was like he was cinderalla and the prince was introducing himself. but it wouldn't be that far from the truth was it? the man seemed rich and he was a working class man, looking to get rid of his step mother/ roommate. 

now jaehyun just needed him to ask him out, so thdy can dance in the night and jaehyun could leave and a rich boyfriend to flaunt to everyone about. he could already envision it, the absolute jealousy on minghao's face as he fums to mingyu and dokyeom. 

internally grins, relishing in that thought as the shake went longer then he noticed. 

"i'm jeon jeongguk", he introduced himself. 

jaehyun grinned at him. "jung jaehyun". my prince, he thought gleefully. "now we can talk without any unfavorable company present". 

johnny squawked beside him and jaehyun could already see johnny scowling behind him as jeongguk led them a little ways away.

he dropped his hand from which he had been leading him, leaving his warming hands cold again. he blinked. 

why was jeongguk still holding his hand? better, why was warm to the touch? he felt like a furnace, his hand which he had been holding burning with the comfortable heat of his skin. he wondered if it would be too weird to warm his hands through his. 

"so". he said. 

the man had grown nervous in seconds after dropping his hand, a blush spreading over his cheeks and ears turning them bright red. he looked like a cute elf, his pierced ears were even sharply pointed like he had surgery done on them. 

jaehyun felt like he could taste the nerves on his tongue, thickening the air around like magic were tickling his tastebuds. 

he opened his mouth so say something else but jeongguk was pushing something forward, a gift maybe. he grabbed it, gingerly ofcourse. it has been a while since he had gotten gifts and they had usually been food and sandwiches, not well a box. 

a small black box, with a familiar brand pressed into the wood. he glanced up, suddenly feeling nervous too. 

but the man had nerves dancing around him, his stance had turned confident and he marveled at the necklace he spied through his shirt - a gold ring with opal he was correct on a thin golden string. 

he opened it. 

there was a ring there, a fat pearl embedded on a gold band. he caught leaves carved into the gold as it glinted in the artifical light. 

his breath got caught in his throat, his eyes mesmerized from the jewelry. then the gasps came, the loudest from johnny as congulations and squeals ran through the floor ( when did you start dating, you prude? ). his face burned. 

"is that a ring?". he asked dumbly. but how was he supposed to respond to this, this testement of love when he had just met the man. 

like he had met people who went a little further then food but this, this was weird. this just never happened, even if he was really handsome and brought all boys to the yard. 

it comforted him though that him holding his hand for warmth wasn't as weird as this fae looking, dark eyed man's strangeness. 

but the boy looked young, atleast a few years younger then him to get away wuth this kind of weirdness, especially if it was prank. 

the man smiles, there's fondness bruning in his gaze. jaehyun hopes it wasn't for him. that would even more surreal. "it was my mother's". 

he laughs, it sounds hysterical. he doesn't know how to respond - should he be grateful, cause honestly there was a part of him touched by it or horrified, letting the emotion drown out everything. 

his dream of a prince was definitely going too far, skipping the dance and everything until the last of the movie where the royals waved goodbye to the commoners. 

he grips the box until his fingers turn white, until jeongguk reaches forward to pry his hands off them ( how didn't anybody notice how still he was, how wide his eyes had gotten in their congulating chase and shouldn't they stop now! ) and place the ring in his palm. 

"and well, i was thinking that - ". he shyly turned away like he had every right to do that. " - we should get married by human customs too". 

" what ". his brain short circuited.

**Author's Note:**

> : so it all happened because i picked up your coat?  
> : yes  
> : i knew i shouldn't have done that. there's no point of a good person in this dirty world and- and didn't you stop me?!  
> : you're handsome and it's hard looking for a mate  
> : mate  
> : yes, see i'm a selkie. so who are inviting to the wedding?
> 
> also look at me uploading in two days. this is a brand new record for me.


End file.
